5 Things Parents Should Know About ‘Darkest Hour’

Nazi Germany is on the move, but everyone in 1940 Britain can rest easy. Winston Churchill is finally at the helm as prime minister.

If it were only that simple.

The courageous and resolute Churchill we’ve learned about in history books is certainly courageous and resolute in Darkest Hour (PG-13) – a biographical movie now in theaters – but he has few supporters.

“We have a drunkard at the wheel,” says one members of Parliament.

“I wouldn’t let him borrow my bicycle,” says another.

Even King George VI doesn’t trust Churchill, instead supporting his rivals, including predecessor Neville Chamberlain.

“Winston lacks judgment,” the king says.

The fretting is no small matter. Hitler has conquered most of Western Europe and is on the verge of occupying France. Britain likely is next. As we learn in Darkest Hour, Chamberlain and a handful of powerful MPs – all members of Churchill’s own party – are plotting to remove him from power. Their goal: Sign another peace agreement with Hitler and hope for the best. Churchill, though, is determined to go down fighting – even though his entire army is surrounded on the beaches of Dunkirk, France.

“You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth!” he tells his own party.

Darkest Hour stars Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight) as Churchill; Kristin Scott Thomas (Four Weddings and a Funeral) as his wife, Clemmie; Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One, The Dark Knight Rises) as King George VI; and Lily James (Cinderella, Downton Abbey) as Churchill’s young secretary, Elizabeth Layton.

Here is what parents should know:

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3 comments

Thanks for a positive review of this marvelous film. Concerning your fifth point, though, this is a composite scene added by the screenwriter to show that Churchill often would go to the people. While it did not happen in this instance of history, it is not fiction, and it served the story well. Until that point, Elizabeth had been his intermediator with the people–his words going into her mouth, as she mouthed them when he spoke as a representative of the common British citizens. The subway scene simply connected him directly with them. It’s actually a very imaginative exploration and depiction of Churchill’s character. When you have two hours to tell a historical narrative of such import, you have to use a cinematic device such as this to tell the whole story, even it is a composite scene. If your 3.5 stars is partly for that scene, you sort of missed that point, but the rest of your review is right on. IMHO, it’s a 4 or 4.5 star film.

I, too, was disappointed to learn that the subway scene was fiction. Regardless, the portrait this film paints of a man standing firm in the face of opposition AND in the face of evil (only later did everyone know just how evil) is truly inspiring. Theater goers in our screening broke into applause at the end. I attended with several family members and we talked about it long after the reel stopped turning. This is a great movie showing the inside story of Parliament, politics, #10 Downing Street and the life of one of my heroes. I’d give it 4.5 at least.